A brief filed on Friday by lawyers of the Justice Department on state prohibitions on same-sex marriage says that the Obama administration believes the Supreme Court should declare the bans as unconstitutional.

In supporting gay unions, the administration finds the state laws breach the constitution's equal protection clause, reports Huffington Post.

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The brief points out that a number of public and private barriers, both symbolic and concrete, have stood in the way of gays and lesbians and stopped them from fully, freely and equally participating in American life throughout American history.

It adds that the federal, state and local governments all contributed to the history of discrimination.

The administration describes the state bans on same-sex marriages as harming gay couples and sending them the message that their children belong to second-class families not worthy of recognition and benefits that heterogeneous couples often take for granted.

The brief stresses, "It should go without saying that marriage is much more than a government incentive program to encourage biological parents to stay together."

It argues, "Just as a State could not rely on an interest in democratic decision-making to prohibit marriage between individuals of a different race ... it cannot rely on such an interest to prohibit marriage between individuals of the same sex."

Besides the Obama administration's legal brief, the Supreme Court also received dozens of legal brief from thousands of parties seeking for the overturn of the ban as well as those supporting the ban such as the one signed by over 300 Republican, conservative and center-right activists and government officials.

Companies, too, such as Johnson & Johnson, Apple and Microsoft beat the Friday deadline to submit their briefs.

Most of the corporate briefs are in support of same-sex unions, such as the one from 379 enterprises and organisations which states that "Inconsistent state marriage laws impose an added economic burden on American businesses at an estimated cost of over one billion dollars per year."

Businesses point out that the patchwork of state laws that apply to gay unions impairs their business interests. 

Tagssame sex marriage, Obama administration, supreme court